LESSON XVI.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.-1. THE SIMOOM, which means poisonous, is a hot, noxious wind which blows, at the period of the equinoxes, in Arabia and Africa, and which is fatal to animal life. It is generated by the extreme heat of the sandy deserts, and its approach is indicated by terrible appearances. A dark yellow hue pervades the eastern horizon; a thick sulphureous exhalation rises from the ground, which is hurried round in rapid gyrations, and then ascends into the air, covering the whole heavens; hissing and crackling sounds are heard, accompanied by a hot current of air. Even the beasts manifest their terror by their howlings, and by thrusting their noses to the ground. From this conduct of the beasts, travelers have learned to avoid its fatal effects by falling on the face, and holding, as much as possible, the breath.

THE SONG OF THE SIMOOM.

JAMES STILLMAN.

1. I COME from my home in the desert afar,

My fierce fiery steeds I have yoked to my car;
With the speed of the lightning I rush o'er the waste,
And strew with destruction the path I have traced.

2. As the blast from a furnace, e'en so is

my breath;
I spread desolation--my presence is death;
The road I have traveled may always be known
By the bones of the victims that o'er it are strewn.
3. In the realms where I revel, no waters are found,
And the green garb of nature is not on the ground;
The earth and its produce lies shriveled and dead,
Wherever the feet of my coursers may tread.

4. The desert, the desert, right gladsome I rove,
Its hot arid face is the sight that I love;

While the sun in his strength above me doth glow,
And the earth like red ashes is burning below.

5. No rival I fear in my barren domain,

Or expect diminution my power will sustain;
Nor ask I for subjects to suffer and groan,-
I would go to my revels and riot alone.

6. Away, foolish mortals, approach not my face,—
Ere I come in my fury, your footsteps retrace.
4

Bow down to the dust, hide your face in the ground,
And dare not to breathe while past you I bound.

7. At the sound of my voice, the earth trembles with fear,
And the stoutest ones quail, when my roarings they hear.
Deep and wide are the furrows I plow as I go,
And death reaps the harvest that in them I sow.

8. They list to my coming, the lone pilgrim bands,
As wayworn and weary they toil o'er the sands;
In vain on their prophet* for succor they call;
Horses, camels, and riders, I stifle them all.

9. Ere now in my furious career I've met

Some proud host of warriors, unconquered as yet; [ed,
But they shrank in dismay, through their ranks as I pass-
O'erthrown like a bulrush when torn by the blast.

10. When the minions of Syria Jehovah defied,

And Israel dismayed with their fierceness and pride, In the silence of night 'mong the boasters I sped, And the morning beheld them lie powerless and dead. 11. Back, back to the desert my right royal steeds!

Ye love not to linger near streamlets and meads, Where the dew-spangled grass is by soft breezes fanned; Your pasture's the waste, and your couch is the sand. 12. Soon, soon in our strength we will come forth again, Refreshed like a giant aroused from his den,

While nature turns pale with terrible fear,

As we scatter destruction and death far and near.

LESSON XVII.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. MICHAEL ANGELO and RAPHAEL were among the most distinguished of modern painters. The former was born in 1474; the latter, in 1483.

2. TACITUS was a very eminent Latin Historian, who lived during the reign of the Emperor Nero.

3. JOHN LOCKE was one of the most celebrated philosophers and writers of his age and country.

4. SIR ISAAC NEWTON, the distinguished Astronomer, was born in 1642. He lived at the same time with Locke.

5. AUGUSTUS CESAR was the first Roman Emperor. He received the title from an obsequious Senate, which styled him at the same time AvGUSTUS, a title, meaning great. He ruled with prudence and moderation, and his measures tended to increase the glory and prosperity of Rome. He died 14 after Christ.

6. LOUIS XIV. succeeded his father to the throne of France when only four years old, and reigned seventy-three years, having died in 1715. His reign was distinguished for the great statesmen, generals, and literary and scientific men who then lived.

7. QUEEN ANNE ascended the English throne in 1702. Her reign was distinguished not only by brilliant successes in British arms, but also as the golden age of English literature. At that time lived the most learned and eloquent of the English writers.

8. FAUSTUS, or FAUST, was one of the three artists, to whom the invention of the art of printing is generally ascribed.

9. ARCHIMIDES was a great mathematician, who lived two centuries before Christ. He constructed a machine, by which he raised the ships of the Romans who had besieged his native city, Syracuse, and thereby let them fall so violently into the water that they sank. Contemplating the power of his machines, he is said to have exclaimed, "Give me a place, on which to stand, and I will shake the world."

THE PRESENT AGE.

STORY.

1. We live in an extraordinary age. It has been marked by events which leave a durable impression upon the pages of history by their own intrinsic importance. But they will be read with far deeper emotions in their effects upon future ages; in their consequences upon the happiness of whole communities; in the direct or silent changes forced by them into the very structure of society; in the establishment of a new and mighty empire, the empire of public opinion.

2. Other ages have been marked by brilliant feats in arms. Wars have been waged for the best and for the worst of purposes. The ambitious conqueror has trodden whole nations under his feet, to satisfy the lust of power, and the eagles of his victories have stood on either extreme of the civilized world. The barbarian has broken loose from his northern fastnesses, and overwhelmed, in his progress, temples and

thrones, the adorers of the true God, and the worshipers of idols.

3. Heroes and patriots have successfully resisted the invaders of their country, or perished in its defense; and, in each way, have given immortality to their exploits. Kingdoms have been rent asunder by intestine broils, or by struggles for freedom. Bigotry has traced out the march of its persecutions in footsteps of blood, and superstition has employed its terrors to nerve the arm of the tyrant, or immolate his victims. There have been ancient leagues for the partition of empires, for the support of thrones, for the fencing out of human improvement, and for the consolidation of arbitrary power.

4. There have, too, been bright spots on the earth, where the cheering light of liberty shone in peace; where learning unlocked its stores in various profusion; where the arts un folded themselves in every form of beauty and grandeur; where literature loved to linger in academic shades, or enjoy the public sunshine; where song lent new inspiration to the temple; where eloquence alternately consecrated the hall of legislation, or astonished the forum with its appeals.

5. We may not assert, that the present age can lay claim to the production of any one of the mightiest efforts of human genius. Homer and Virgil, Shakspeare and Milton, were of other days, and yet stand unrivaled in song. Time has not inscribed upon the sepulcher of the dead any nobler names in eloquence than Demosthenes and Cicero. Who has outdone the chisel of Phidias, or the pencil of Michael Angelo' and Raphael'.

6. Where are the monuments of our day whose architecture dares to contend with the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian of Greece, or even with the Composite or Gothic of later times? History yet points to the pregnant though brief text of Tacitus," and acknowledges no finer models than those of antiquity. The stream of a century has swept by the works of Locke' and Newton;* yet they still stand alone in unapproached,— in unapproachable majesty.

7. Nor may we pronounce that the present age, by its col

lective splendor in arts and arms, casts into shade all former epochs. The era of Pericles witnessed a combination of talents and acquirements, of celebrated deeds and celebrated works, which the lapse of twenty-two centuries has left unobscured. Augustus, surveying his mighty empire, could scarcely contemplate with more satisfaction the triumph of his arms, than the triumph of the philosophy and literature of Rome. France yet delights to dwell on the times of Louis the Fourteenth, as the proudest in her annals; and England looks back upon the reign of Queen Anne' for the best models of her literary excellence.

8. But though we may not arrogate to ourselves the possession of the first genius, or the first era, in human history, let it not be imagined that we do not live in an extraordinary age. It is impossible to look around us without alternate emotions of exultation and astonishment. What shall we say of one revolution which created a nation out of thirteen feeble colonies, and founded the empire of liberty upon the basis of the perfect equality in rights, and representation of all its citizens? -which commenced in a struggle, by enlightened men, for principles and not for places; and, in its progress and conclusion, exhibited examples of heroism, patriotic sacrifices, and disinterested virtue, which have never been surpassed in the most favored regions?

9. What shall we say of this nation which has, in fifty years, quadrupled its population, and spread itself from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains, not by the desolations of successful war, but by the triumphant march of industry and enterprise? What shall we say of another revolution, which shook Europe to its center, overturned principalities and thrones, demolished oppressions whose iron had for ages entered into the souls of their subjects, and, after various fortunes of victory and defeat, of military despotism and popular commotion, ended at last in the planting of free institutions, free tenures, and representative government, in the very soil of absolute manarchy ?

10. What shall we say of another revolution, or rather series of revolutions, which has restored to South America the inde